


Stay Calm

by TheObsessor



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Sanders Sides (Web Series), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Marvel Universe, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slow To Update, Thomas and them boys got some trauma, Torture, but there will be stuff from the comics and cartoons scattered and thrown in, expect possible death when we get to the infinity war and end game stuff, past experimentation and torture, possiblly gonna just right my own version of that and say screw it to the movies, queer platonic boyos, they did some of them characters dirty, this is gonna mostly follow along with the movies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22287229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheObsessor/pseuds/TheObsessor
Summary: Thomas finds himself running away once again from a shady organization from his past only to have a startling encounter with some of Earth's mightiest heroes
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Comments: 29
Kudos: 135





	1. Panic

The trees were a blur as Thomas races to escape his pursuers. He could hear them shouting far behind him, bringing with it an all too familiar fear. 

His feet pound against the forest floor as he wills himself to go faster. Something shoots past him, slamming into a tree beside him. A bullet? A Tranq dart? Something worse?!

He doesn’t want to find out.

Praying he can find a way to lose them, he continues to push himself forward against the ache in his legs. They felt ready to collapse alongside his burning lungs, his breath harsh in his throat as he strains to breathe.

The roar of a jet engine shrieks overhead rattling the limbs of the trees around it as it hovers close to the forest. Thomas notices several figures jump out of it rushing to meet the group of armed men chasing after him.

Did they call in reinforcements?! More weapons to hurt or capture him with?! Would they try and shoot him with the jet or just use it to take him away again!?! Would he be dragged back to- 

A startled gasp leaves Thomas’s mouth as he slams to the ground with his foot caught on a tree root. His knees and palms sting from the impact, something to add to his growing list of pain. 

Thomas scrambles on all fours over to the nearby tree, curling in on himself as he attempts to steady his breathing. A chorus of strange sounds ringing loud behind him, gunshots, electricity crackling, pulses of energy and grunts from fists meeting flesh. It was all barely registering in his mind as he fights off the waves of swirling panic.

“ _You’re ok, we’re ok_ ” Thomas whispers to himself trying to control his raging thoughts. “ _You are not in a lab, you’re in Florida. You’re in a forest, not in a metal room._ ” 

He chants the familiar mantra over and over, growing frustrated as it proves ineffective. Angry that he can’t pull himself together. “ _We’re ok, we’re ok!_ ” Thomas squeezes his eyes shut forcing back tears as his breath comes in painful gasps. 

It all feels too much like he’s back there all over again, running for his life trying to-

“ _Hey Cap, think someone’s over here._ ” 

A horrified shriek escapes Thomas’s lips as he pulls himself to his feet, launching himself away from the stranger clad in purple-ish leather only standing a couple feet away. He doesn’t watch where he is going all to concerned about the man holding a dangerous bow, plowing himself right into a tree. 

Dots dance in his vision as he falls to the ground for the second time, a horrible headache building as something warm drips down the side of his face.

“ _Ah geez, you alright?_ ” The stranger asks, stepping closer while reaching an arm out to try and help Thomas up

Instinctively he jerks away putting as much distance between them as he can without causing himself to blackout, “ _ **StAy AwAy!**_ ”

He can't help but flinch at his own voice as it echos and warps, tempest tongue leaking into it as he presses himself painfully against the tree. 

That's the first sign. He needs to get out of here before it's too late. 

" _Alright-alright that's ok._ " the stranger crouches down putting his hands up in a non-threatening gesture, the one hand with the bow slowly reaching to his hip, the bow collapses in it self folding up and clipping to his belt. " _I won't come any closer._ " 

Thomas can feel himself shaking as he stares at the blonde archer, waiting for him to attack, to prove his lie, to steal them away again, to steal everything away from them. Unwanted tears burn his eyes as he moves to hug himself, knees curling up to his chest, he’s cornered and he knows it. 

A strange feeling starts in his core and spreads through him, prickly, almost painful feeling like a limb falling asleep, growing slowly more painful. Second warning he needs to get out of there. 

“ _Hey, those dudes aren’t going to get you any time soon,_ ” The archer shifts on his feet, seemingly awkwardly unsure how to help calm Thomas, “ _just... try breathing with me._ ” he hesitantly exaggerates his breathing, moving his hand up and down as a way to gauge when he was breathing in or out. 

The adrenaline from the horrible chase and panic slowly ease away as Thomas sits there, with most of the panic leaving him he can begin to think more clearly again, he attempts to follow the men breathing to disappears more of his panic. His breathing is still a little erratic but he’s not hyperventilating there’s only so much you can do when you’re still terrifyingly cornered by a stranger...and well, bleeding from the head.

The archer seems satisfied, though he was frowning a little, looking Thomas over with analytical blue eyes absorbing every detail. “ _Can you stand?_ ” 

“ _I-_ " Thomas voice cracks and cuts off, he risks squeezing his eyes shut trying to take some deep breaths as he begins repeating the mantra to himself again, he knows they should be fine, there are no crazed men with guns anymore so obviously this guy did something to stop them. 

They’re not really in danger anymore. Calm down. Just calm down. 

He’s still shaking terribly when he opens his eyes, ready to try and speak again fighting against his anxiety to do so...only

He realizes too late that his shaking is no longer due to fear. 

His third and final warning.

Thomas tries to speak only to lightly cry out as pain shot up his spine, his very core spasming. He curls up tighter in himself trying to hold themselves together, they can’t do this now, not out in the open, not with a stranger. But the feeling of being ripped into pieces still comes at full force as they fall apart. 

Last thing Thomas hears is the archer calling for someone named Stark.


	2. The Hawk has Landed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally after a year and i think 5 complete rewrites of this chapter I am happy with it and finished it. 
> 
> I gotta give a really big thanks to knightofbloodcancer on Tumblr. a great friend who I pulled in to help with this chapter and man do I owe them big for this. Finally got the chapter done due to them.

Thomas’s body ripples as if it couldn’t hold it’s shape, spasming and tearing as if glitching apart before a bright flash of light obscured him from sight. 

Their core was painfully splitting apart, going back to many instead of one. He could feel himself being pulled away from the others, losing that mental connection of thoughts and feelings as they are forcefully unfused. 

He could feel the others around him as their bodies formed, hear them breathing harshly through the pain that is always present during this process.

Virgil gasps for breath, forcing his lungs to quickly start working again. There isn’t time to let everything settle, they are out in the open with a stranger in front of them. A stranger that just witnessed them all split. 

They need to get out of here before this causes them more trouble. Even if the stranger helped them a second ago, with what just happened he’s sure they aren't going to want to anymore...Or with the even more alarming fact the stranger isn’t alone anymore they might be planning to harm them. 

Though both seem vaguely familiar, one more than the other, he doesn’t trust this situation at all. 

A man with some strange red and gold metal suit stands next to the archer, the two intensely talking to each other. The archer waved his hands a lot as he spoke, using sign language along with his words. 

“...now explain to me Clink why am I wasting resources on a group of kids, couldn't we have let shield just deal with this group of agents? Or even just cap instead of the whole team?” 

“They aren't just kids Stark, I- Just trust me on this. I can’t let them-We couldn’t let them get into Hydras hands, They’re obviously not human.”

The guy in the metal suit sighs pinching the bridge of his nose before the two continue their conversation. Virgil tunes them back out for the rest of it, he doesn’t know what this shield or hydra agents, or who this cap guy is, he doesn’t care. It’s not important right now. 

He turns to the others making sure to keep a cautious eye on the strangers as he looks over every one’s conditions.

Logan appears to be sporting the head injury they got as Thomas, its sluggishly bleeding on the side of their forehead, but isn’t too serious. Can be patched up later. Dean is swaying looking close to fainting. Roman has a couple scrapes from running into tree branches, and finally, Patton, sitting there hugging himself and just with a few bruises. They are all banged up but that’s what happens when you’re running from people shooting at you. 

Virgil stands, ignoring the swarming black dots in his vision trying to shake his head to get rid of them as he pulls what little shadows he can into the broad daylight around his family’s and his feet protectively. 

Those two adults sound to be still talking to each other almost arguing now. Good means they are distracted. He gets to work helping everyone to their feet, tensely aware that the strangers attention could turn back on them. 

“...ould take them back to the lab and give them checkups…” 

Virgil freezes, the black under his eyes darkening and growing, the shadows he’s pulled around them doing the same. _Lab?!_ The word keeps repeating in his head, bouncing around his skull. He has to clench his jaw to try and keep himself in reality. Fight back the screams that want to rise with that word. 

He growls forcing himself to move again. _they wOULD NOT BE TRAPPED IN A LAB AGAIN!_ He lifts a hand up into the air and the shadows move as one with him as they stretch over them and wrap around all of them. There’s shouting from the strangers that goes ignored but a flash of red launches right towards them before darkness envelops and they vanish. 

They land in a completely different part of the forest, the shadows receding immediately after as they try to get their bearings. Virgil shudders heavily as his energy leaves him... to much power at once. His legs give out as he falls on all four wheezing and trying to catch his breath. 

Roman stumbles forward and faceplants into a nearby bush with a startled grunt unable to catch his footing, the only trace of him, is the frightening sight of the butt of an arrow standing straight up from the bush. 

Logan and Dean help Virgil to his feet, checking him worriedly to see if he is alright, while Patton helps roman stand up and yanks the arrow of his jacket giving a thankful sigh when he realizes it wasn’t actually shot into Roman. 

With every one back on their feet once again, they swiftly make haste to return home. 

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  


Hours later the crew gets back to the house and Logan starts giving orders. Enacting their emergency plan they had discussed years back for situations like this. “Virgil backpack of clothes and essentials from the bathroom. Patton, Dean pack the duffel thermal bag with food and perishables, And Roman go collect up the camping equipment for cooking and sleeping.” He commands sharply as he starts collecting papers together. 

Virgil furrows his brows, something catching his eye as Roman turns to leave, before Roman can leave the room he grabs him and pins him to the wall. 

“Stay still.” 

Roman loudly protests at the sound of his coat ripping, only to fall silent with his eyes widening. 

“Tracker.” Virgil states show off the device to all

Logan looks at it with a huff. “Then the timetable has been moved up, Go now, collect!” He orders loudly, waving his hands to hurriedly shoo everyone to do as told. 

They all separate to do their tasks, grabbing their bags and stuffing them carefully with the items they were told to collect. The house is full of tense silence as they bustle about instead of the usual happy contentedness that usually surrounds their home. If all goes according to their emergency plan. They shall take their bags, stay a few nights at Joan's before take off to hide away in the woods for a while...they never determined for how long but however long it would take to be safe again, one would assume. 

After some time, they manage without a problem to get their bags all packed. They assemble back into the living room checking they got everything only to freeze, a knock coming from the front door. 

“Pizza delivery!” a voice calls.

They all look to one another with confusion and suspicion, none of them had obviously ordered a pizza. Virgil steps up, taking upon himself to get close to the door. “We-...Er...I didn’t order a pizza.” 

“Your neighbors sent it over.” 

Virgil furrows his brows and opens up the door cautiously to tell the poor delivery guy to go take it to their neighbors or something, only to freeze. That wasn’t a delivery guy with pizza! It was the archer standing there with his arms crossed! “Can I come in?”

Virgil slams the door shut, fastening all the locks “We gotTA LE **AVE NOW!”**

Everyone scrambles together, running for the stairs. The only way back out the house is out the window on the second floor and climbing down the tall tree in the backyard.

Virgil gets the window open only to freeze once more. The archer had somehow beat them to the tree, perched idly in the branch giving them a wave “Right, you gonna run again or you gonna finally let me in?” 

Virgil glares at him with a growl, backing up and keeping everyone behind him as the archer steps in. 

“You know, you guys really give a whole new meaning to kids in a trench coat.”

Virgil huffs at the joke, not at all pleased with the probably dangerous stranger in their home… any stranger is dangerous if he’s being honest. 

The archer crosses his arms with a sigh looking to them all expectantly “... Really? Nothing? You kids don’t remember after all this time? And to think I chose my hero name after the nickname you gave me...” 

Virgil furrows his brows. They all stand there confused looking at the man. He's dressed in purple leather gear with a quiver of arrows and bow on his back. When did they know any heroes? Let alone give a nickname to one??

That is when Patton perks up recognizing him at last. “Wait Mr. Hawks!” 

Roman’s eyes widen “Wait… like… Mr. Hawks from…” He looks to the others as looks of realization sweeps over everyone’s face. All at once, they begin trying to shout over one another.

“Why the hell did you shoot Roman?!"  
“You chose a hero name based on the nickname we gave you?”  
“Why were you with that weird guy in the metal suit?”  
“How did those assholes from the facility find us?”  
”What’s with all the leather?”

Hawks puts his hands up “Whoa, whoa calm down. I had only shot him with a tracker arrow, no harm done. I just wanted to be able to find you kids. I haven't seen you in years, and last time I was saving your asses from Hydra goons. I had to make sure I could find you again.” He puts his hands down, using one of them to rub the back of his neck. “As for the whole other guy being there, I’m kinda part of a team now that works to keep the world safe? Pretty sure everyone’s heard about them on the news. Especially with the whole alien invasion we came together to stop in the first place.” 

“Wait...you stopped that?!?!” Roman exclaims

“Ah well no, it wasn't just me. I uh… I was actually kinda brainwashed for the beginning of it and helped cause it but that’s besides the point. I had a team helping me.” Hawks corrects.

They all looked at him with awe, almost the same kind of look they gave him when they were all so small and he’d rescued them from that Hydra facility. 

Hawks clears his throat awkwardly. “R-Right, so… I know you’re probably not going to like this idea, but I think you all should come with my team and I back to the tower. Hydra obviously somehow found you guys again and it would be safer than hiding out in the woods.” 

Virgil frowns glaring. Hawks may have rescued them twice now, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely trustworthy. “This same tower that the metal suit wanted us in to go to his lab?” 

“Ok, he doesn't work on people first of all. He only works on machines. And secondly, he just wanted to get you guys patched up. You are all battered and bruised, you need some medical care.”

Dean huffs stepping forward to Virgil’s side “And what’s to make us believe that he doesn’t use his machines on people? Or that we would be safe in the claimed tower of yours?” 

Hawks sighs “Look you have a whole team of superheroes living there, plus all of Stark's expensive security. Just… Come back with me to the tower and as soon as you wanna leave, I'll help you get out without anyone noticing, even help hide you away somewhere in the forest”

Virgil hums and looks to the others, they all share a few looks silently thinking it over together. After a moment, they each give a nod to Virgil and he sighs. “Alright fine. We’ll go…”

**Author's Note:**

> Finally finished this and got it out whoow!! Please do enjoy, and leave comments with your reactions for I live off those. I have a blog for this au if you wish to see art or ask characters questions. (theres not much on it yet but there will be :3)
> 
> Real nervous about publishing this oof but, obviously im doing it anyways.
> 
> link to the blog (https://super-sanders.tumblr.com/)


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